CHOOSING A PAYMENT GATEWAY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

FINANCE

CHOOSING A PAYMENT GATEWAY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

by Sancia Campbell

As the e-commerce industry continues to fuel the explosive growth of businesses across many other industries, Jamaican entrepreneurs, particularly small business owners, are in a race to capitalise on the income prospects from across the country, region and the world.

However, unlike their larger and in some cases international counterparts, local small business operators face significant challenges when it comes to digital transformation and taking advantage of the technology available to foster growth and development.

The current trend sees smaller companies engaged in limited e-commerce including social media selling and commerce using mobile technology. However, a formal e-commerce platform has proven advantages that positions businesses to get the most out of the many features and possibilities which encourage customer purchases, builds relationships between the business and consumer and provides a platform for the business to showcase itself.

Chief Executive Officer at Mobile Edge Solutions, Leighton Campbell says that while it is important for commercebased businesses to have their own online marketplace, it is recommended that they enrol on existing marketplace platforms so that they can quickly reap the benefits of such spaces. “For smaller businesses, the simplest and easiest way to get started is to enrol in an existing marketplace. That way, they can quickly benefit from the existing traffic on these sites,” he stated. He suggests that online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Cool Market are great options particularly because they have existing audiences from across the world.

Still, MSME challenges persist. During the hosting of the JBDC Virtual Biz Zone in which the topic of e-commerce was discussed on several occasions. The most recurrent complaint was the difficulties faced with identifying and using the right payment gateways in a bid to collect sales receipts on time.

Continuing, Mr. Campbell confirmed that this is indeed a hurdle that many entrepreneurs face daily. He recommends however that emphasis should be placed on choosing payment partners who provide transparency over transactions. “No sale is complete until the money is collected, so the payment partner is crucial to the e-commerce process. You want to work with financial entities that are not only transparent but those who also provide confirmation of payment in real time and offer quick pay-outs.” He further shares that these features are available from popular local e-commerce partners including NCB, CIBC, Sagicor, First Global Bank and Scotiabank.

As transactions can come from anywhere in the world, it is also important that businesses develop relationships with international gateway partners. According to Mr. Campbell, the most common in Jamaica is PayPal. The use of this solution however comes with pros and cons.

PayPal boasts on its safety and ease of set up and usability. Based on the interface’s popularity, the possibility also exists that customers would already be use to technology, plus PayPal is integratable with a number of shopping cart systems. It is also instructive to know that customers do not require a PayPal account to transact business with the small business and the fees are less than many other merchant accounts.

On the other hand, PayPal has a limited term of use which if any business goes against can result in account suspension and frozen funds for unspecified periods.

Of course there are other web-based payment systems such as Venmo, Apple Pay and Stripe. Use of these interfaces requires additional research to indicate whether they effectively serve the local marketplace.

Finally, the National Commercial Bank’s e-commerce service which is powered by Fygaro uses the payment gateway provided through First Atlantic Commerce. This payment gateway supports multi-currency credit card transactions. It is a fast and secure platform that enables merchants to process multi-currency credit card transactions on their website using KeyCard, MasterCard, Visa and NCB Quisk.

NCB further supports particularly small and medium-sized enterprises with Payment Buttons which may be shared on social media networks and Website Templates which allow merchants to create their webstore by selecting a theme from a gallery or requesting a custom-built template.